Miriam González Durántez - Mrs Clegg - Spain News in English Profiles Miriam González Durántez - Mrs Clegg She is wife of the Liberal Democrats leader in the U.K., Nick Clegg, but she can't vote for him Apr 19, 2014 - 7:21 PM Spanish national right wing newspaper, La Razón, has carried out an interview with Míriam González, the Spanish lawyer wife of the British Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. The paper says it had the privilege of sharing coffee with her in Putney, and notes the forthcoming UK election could result in a hung parliament for the first time since 1974. She tells the paper that the two party system should be done away with in Britain, and although she is a politician’s wife she does not have a role. ‘I’m just married to him’, she says, although admits it would be ‘a complete privilege’ to move into Downing Street. She interrupted an interview on ITV with Marie Nightingale after being described as ‘a political wife’.

She met Nick Clegg in Bruges at the start of the 90’s where both were on post-graduate courses, and it was said to be love at first sight. She had to steal him from a friend who was going out with him at the time – ‘I lost a friend and gained a husband’, she is said to have said. The couple originally communicated in ‘schoolboy’s French’. The couple got married in 2,000, and have three children, Antonio, Alberto and Miguel, who are all kept fiercely out of the limelight. Born in Valladolid in May 1968, she grew up in Olmedo. She worked with Chris Patten when he was European Foreign Affairs Commissioner, and then Nick Clegg was an MEP. She worked briefly in the Foreign Office in London, and is now a partner of the international law firm DLA Piper, where she will continue to work during the present election campaign in the U.K., bringing home more money than her husband. She never sets a meeting after six so that there is more time to be with the children.

Miriam González Durántez - Archive Photo La Razón comments that the fierce British press is falling at her feet, describing her as elegant, watchful, and with a special passion when talking about politics. Much of the coverage of her in the UK press, with a big piece in the Daily Mail, has been that, being Spanish, she is not allowed to vote for her husband, to which she told La Razón that she is proud to be Spanish. The UK press note too that she has kept her Spanish surname, but she says that is just a cultural question. Míriam González father, José Antonio González Caviedes, was Mayor of Olmedo, and also a Partido Popular senator. He died in a traffic accident in 1996. The paper asks her whether it is more difficult to be a politician’s daughter than a politician’s wife, and she notes that when she supported her father she was only responsible for herself, but now the difference is she is responsible for a family. She notes that the fundamental thing is to put matters into perspective, and to realise that a crisis is never such a big crisis, or a triumph is never such a big triumph.

She comments too on her sadness at the state of Spanish politics, saying what is needed is more internal democracy in the Spanish political parties, so they can contact again with the electorate. Asked what her husband Nick Clegg likes most about Spain, she says ‘The jamon y croquetas’. Political leaders' wives: Miriam Clegg in 60 seconds Political leaders' wives: Miriam Clegg in 60 seconds Watch | Miriam Clegg in 60 seconds 01:07 Miriam González Durántez has led an illustrious career both before and since her marriage to the Deputy Prime Minister . Mrs Clegg, the daughter of two Spanish teachers, studied Law in Belgium. Miriam Clegg the wife of Deputy prime minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images She continued to work in Brussels which was where she met Nick Clegg. The pair married in 2000 and had three sons named Antonio, Alberto and Miguel. Mrs Clegg launched an Inspiring Women campaign in October 2013 which aimed to change school girl's perceptions of their position in the world.

Follow Telegraph News Premium 19 Jan 2017, 7:53am Miriam González Durántez: 'I'm like a tigress when it comes to my children' | Politics | The Guardian Miriam González Durántez Miriam González Durántez: 'I'm like a tigress when it comes to my children' She puts her job first, refuses to play the adoring wife and mentors thousands of schoolgirls. Is Miriam González Durántez the most likable woman in British politics? Miranda Sawyer meets Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg’s better half Miriam González Durántez: ‘What I am focusing on right now is how to protect my family during the election campaign.’ Photograph: Paul Stuart Miriam González Durántez: ‘What I am focusing on right now is how to protect my family during the election campaign.’ Photograph: Paul Stuart Miriam González Durántez Miriam González Durántez: 'I'm like a tigress when it comes to my children' She puts her job first, refuses to play the adoring wife and mentors thousands of schoolgirls.

Is Miriam González Durántez the most likable woman in British politics? Miranda Sawyer meets Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg’s better half Saturday 21 March 2015 03.00 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 20 September 2016 06.01 EDT Share on Messenger Close Wednesday morning, 9.30am. I am at the London Aquatics Centre in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park , a building so vast and light, it makes my eyes hurt. In front of me is the swimming pool, a smooth, blue oblong, where Rebecca Adlington won a bronze medal for the 400m freestyle in 2012 and Ellie Simmonds won two golds . There is nobody in it. Several light years away is a diving pool; behind it, sunlight dazzles. Around the main pool are circular tables. At each table sit six or so schoolgirls aged 14 to 17, and one older woman. It’s like a municipal version of a Miami nightclub. At the far end, where the DJ should be, stands a woman in well-cut trousers and heels.

This is Miriam González Durántez , international lawyer, lovely-haired wife of Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and campaigner. At least, I think it’s her: the size of the centre makes it difficult to tell. González Durántez is making a short speech about her organisation, Inspiring Women , the reason we are all here. Unfortunately, the acoustics and her Spanish accent make it hard to understand much of what she’s saying. Inspiring Women is a simple idea: get professional women to talk for one hour to teenage girls about their jobs, so the teenagers hear for themselves about a variety of possible careers. That simplicity, however, comes heavily sprinkled in PR pizzazz. Thus the women will not be just talking, but “speed-mentoring”, meaning they’re each assigned a table where they chat to the girls (300 in total) for 15 minutes, then move on to talk to another group. They have been collected together in terms of their careers: all the women here except González Durántez have jobs in sport, hence our venue.

Clare Balding is hosting alongside González Durántez; everything is being filmed by BT Sport; other Inspiring Women sports-speed-mentoring events are being held simultaneously across the country. All very exciting, but behind González Durántez and Balding, atop a diving board reached by what seem like the stairs from A Matter Of Life And Death , sits a whopping distraction: teeny tiny Tom Daley . Daley trains in the diving pool every day. Earlier, to oohs and aahs, we watched his dolly frame spin and twirl through the air, then splash into the water. I worry about the feminist implications of one man taking attention away from hundreds of high-achieving women, of Speedos trumping speed-mentoring. But perhaps I’m overanalysing. Someone rings a bell for the event to start and I walk over to González Durántez’s table. She is talking to a group from Caterham High. The girls all have questions, which they read out in turn. “How do you prepare for your job?” one girl asks, carefully. I’m not sure she knows what González Durántez’s job is. González Durántez doesn’t mind.

She is welcoming, smiling throughout. She explains that she is a lawyer and says she ended up becoming one “by chance”. “It’s not whether you are smart,” she says, “it’s whether you make an effort. I worked hard at school, so I had the discipline to work hard in my job. I know if I put eight hours in, it’s better than four hours.” The girls lean in, not because they’ve read Sheryl Sandberg , but because it’s the only way to hear. I check out a few other tables. There is talk of physiotherapy, of sports agents, of presenting, of lobbying organisations. The speakers are sensible, inclusive, goal-oriented; the girls, keen but slightly shy. It is an odd event. The scale of everything – the hugeness of the pool, the height of the ceiling, the number of people, how small everyone is and how far away – messes with your head. Also, although everyone is thoroughly well-meaning, the atmosphere is a bit stiff, and not tailor-made to engage teenagers. After half an hour, some of the girls seem a bit glazed. Pinterest Making a splash: Miriam González Durántez with schoolgirls at the London Aquatics Centre.

Photograph: Kalpesh Lathigra for the Guardian Inspiring Women is led by someone who clearly fits the bill herself. From a small village in rural Spain, Miriam González Durántez is now a successful lawyer, a partner specialising in international trade regulations. She’s mother to three boys aged six, 10 and 13. She speaks three languages: her native Spanish, plus English and French. Since she launched her initiative last November, she has got 12,000 professional women to talk to 180,000 girls (her aim is to get to 15,000 and 250,000 respectively). But she is also Nick Clegg’s wife. And this means that, unfairly – because that’s how power works – her deputy prime minister husband and their relationship are often the bits of her life that get the most attention. No matter how well she does, whichever good causes she supports, González Durántez is still partly regarded as his missus. How galling. So it’s refreshing to see how often she makes teasing statements about her husband’s job.

She refuses to say that it is more important than him dropping his kids off at school, for instance. “Every single politician would learn more about the state of the country outside the school gates than sitting in hours of meetings,” she remarked just the other week . And: “Men want to be with their children… Lots of men are feminists.” She is not a political wife in the old tradition. Not for her the silent sidekick role, gazing supportively at her husband while he does all the talking. This goes for Samantha Cameron and Justine Miliband , too, but they are not quite as high-achieving as González Durántez, and both are more willing to do the media grip-and-grin. They’ve both stood next to their husbands during party conference speeches (González Durántez remained seated); they’ve both been in full family portraits with their kids (González Durántez said nope to that, too). Pinterest At William and Kate’s wedding in 2011. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images “No, our kids have never been in any pictures with us, never,” González Durántez says firmly. “I’m like a tigress when it comes to my children.

That is my top priority, and Nick’s, too. What I am focusing on right now is how to protect them during the next few months’ campaign. Last time, I sent them to Spain, but now they are older, and one has exams.” It’s a different day and we are at her place of work, Dechert (pronounced Dekkert), a legal firm in the City. González Durántez and I – plus three of her people and a minder from the Lib Dems (the smartly-suited embodiment of an elephant in the room) – are in a glass-walled meeting space. González Durántez, a strikingly handsome woman, brings with her a friendly manner, a warmth, but also a sense of urgency. She grips a BlackBerry; she’s going to have to take a call at some point. I’ve seen González Durántez speak at an awards ceremony where she was charismatic, even mischievous. Today, her charm is tempered by what she wants to get across. “When we do press, Inspiring Women gets a surge in women signing up as mentors,” she tells me, and hits me up for contacts for a future event.

She is very careful and deliberate with her answers, conscious of how what she says may come back to bite her, or her husband. After all, she is a lawyer married to a politician, and a general election is coming up. She’s more than happy to talk about feminism, and has some sobering figures. For instance, although women make up 49% of the working population in the UK, 75% of them are employed in one of five “C” professions: caring, catering, cashiering, cleaning, clerical. “I do believe very strongly that there is still residual sexism,” she says. “A lot of progress has been made – obviously more for some women than for others. But at a general level, I think we have 10%, 15% sexism in the workplace that is holding some women back. And a lot of it translates into lack of self-confidence, which is an issue with girls. With self-confidence, I think, if you don’t have it, you have to fake it. But self-confidence is the product of your experience. At the end of the day, the more you do something, the more confident you are.” This is one of the reasons she wants to reach schoolgirls.

It’s also why she emphasises hard work. We have a small disagreement about this: I say that often it’s sparkiness and extroversion that gets you noticed in jobs, rather than silent diligence. González Durántez says maybe, but not at school. “In a school, you have to learn very well a few basic skills, and also to develop your thinking, and work hard. Working very hard doesn’t mean you will do only whatever you have been asked to do. No matter where you are, you try a little bit harder.” González Durántez’s work ethic is perhaps the reason her campaign has been such a success. She also enjoys it, telling me that it’s not only the girls that benefit, but the speakers, too (she thinks that many women are too modest about their achievements). She says that the girls, when asked who they look up to, often say Beyoncé, but just as many say their mum or grandmother (“I want to give them a hug for this”). “It’s just about inspiring the girls by the very simple concept of ‘I cannot dream it unless I have seen it’,” González Durántez says. “We are, I guess, hoping towards the future.

Some girls approach you afterwards and say, ‘This is fantastic. I am going to try this or that.’ But, for many, you are just hoping that you leave a seed. If in the future they think, ‘Well, I will want to be an astronaut’ and they happen to have met the first female astronaut from the UK… It’s a bit of a leap of faith.” It’s interesting that she has such a passion for supporting young girls, being the mother of three boys, but she tells me that the boys (Antonio, Alberto and Miguel) have been supportive of her new initiative, giving her ideas, offering help when it comes to making promotional films. “We don’t treat our children any different than if they were girls,” she says. “I don’t have a project of indoctrination for them to be feminists, but I think that you show by example.” González Durántez organises her work around her children: every day, after getting up around 6-6.30am, she or Clegg takes them to school, and she makes sure she can be back for bedtime most evenings.

Afterwards, she carries on working: her legal speciality is international trade compliance, so she finds that, due to time differences, this works fine. She learned to bend her job to her needs when she first had a child. She was working in Brussels, in external relations, and friends with Anna Lindh , the Swedish foreign affairs minister (who was later assassinated, in 2003). Lindh told González Durántez to set her own boundaries when it came to her kids, to organise meetings rather than go for dinners. How do you choose who to have kids with? 'If you feel respected, everything will be fine. And if you don’t, think twice' Pinterest ‘I don’t have a project of indoctrination for our children to be feminists, but I think that you show by example.’ Photograph: Paul Stuart I’ve been told that the Cleggs all speak Spanish at home, but she tells me this isn’t true: González Durántez speaks Spanish to the boys, Clegg English, and they speak English to each other. They met in Bruges, in 1991, at a scholarship programme at the College of Europe, in a class on European law and politics.

When she first saw him, González Durántez says she thought, “Wow!” (This makes me laugh.) But their first conversations were stilted, as they had to be conducted in their only mutual language, French, which neither spoke brilliantly. They dated for some time before they married and had children. She has said in the past that choosing the person you have kids with is the biggest decision a woman will ever make. How do you know who to choose, I ask. “Well, you do your homework when you buy a car,” she says. “Lots of women feel that it’s important to have the discussion [with their partner] as to what you do when you have children. For me, it’s much more general than that. It’s just to be respected. If you feel respected, everything will be fine. And if you don’t, think twice.” She is so sensible, González Durántez, that she can appear sheltered, almost naive.

When we talk about role models, she says, “Women who are role models are like mushrooms,” and doesn’t follow it up with the usual joke about being kept in the dark and fed shit, but with: “The more you look for them, the more you find.” She doesn’t seem to have a cynical bone in her body: she really does believe in hard work, respecting others and commitment. “Well, I apply myself to things. I make an effort on everything and I don’t do things lightly. If I commit myself to something, I am willing to do it. Also, I am an organised person. I am practical with my clients, I look for solutions. But my weakness is I am impatient. I want results quickly.” González Durántez grew up in Valladolid province, Spain. Both her parents were teachers, though her father, José Antonio González Caviedes, who died in 1996, became better known as a politician – he was mayor of Olmedo for many years. Her mother was the object of some local sympathy. “People felt sorry for her because she had to work,” González Durántez says, “but she wanted to. My mother has taught three generations in the village.

I am never going to make so much of a difference.” Actually, many of the women González Durántez knew had jobs – they just weren’t paid. Both her grandmothers came from rural communities where women laboured in the fields. Her maternal grandmother brought up eight boys (one died) during the Spanish civil war. “She was a tiny, dynamite woman,” González Durántez says. “Always vivacious and positive, a lesson in life.” Nick has a demanding job and there are times when it’s like, 'Oh my God, how do we handle this?' We work around it' Though democracy came to Spain after Franco died in 1975, old-fashioned attitudes took a while to wither. At her school, “when boys did sport, girls did knitting. And boys, when they behaved badly, were sent with the girls.” González Durántez enjoyed reading and music – she played an hour of piano every day (“I say this to my children, who do half an hour a week!”). As the eldest child of the mayor, she was very much part of village life: “I organised things for the little kids, I helped my father in politics, I tried it all.

A race or something, there I was. I wasn’t very good at running, but I tried it all.” The village was small: “Three thousand five hundred people – it’s like a big family. The gossip in my village makes the Daily Mail pale by comparison.” But González Durántez’s mother had an outward-looking approach. She sent her daughter to France and to Ireland for extended stays. (In Ireland, her main cross-cultural discovery was “Mars bars: amazing!”) Perhaps as a result, her ambitions were wide-ranging. “I wanted to be a doctor, and then the first time I hurt myself and I saw the blood, it was a disaster. Then I wanted to be a writer, I wanted to be a diplomat, I wanted to be a politician.” After school, she studied law at the University of Valladolid, got a scholarship to the College of Europe. And then, after she graduated, she tried to get a job. It was 1992. Spain had just hosted the Olympics in Barcelona. Democracy was established. Optimism was in the air. González Durántez sent her CV to “at least 100 companies”, but got not a single reply.

She talks about this both to me and to the girls at the sports event. It was clearly an enormous shock to her; she had to move back home to live with her parents. “I wish somebody had told me that I had to be more realistic. I was part of that generation in Spain that came just after democracy, and there was this feeling that, if you studied, with an education, you could get anything. As a result, we had huge expectations, and it took me some adjustment to come to grips with reality.” Pinterest At the Lib Dem conference in 2014. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images She eventually got a job in Brussels at the European Commission, inputting data; and from there she moved up, becoming a leading negotiator for the World Trade Organisation on the subject of telecoms. This seems to me an astonishing career progression, but she says, “You get a lot of amazing opportunities in Brussels.” Once established, she travelled a lot for work. But after she and Clegg married in 2000, and had their first two kids, she realised that her job wasn’t compatible with small children. “I don’t feel any more or less of a woman or a feminist for that.

It was our decision, not anybody else’s.” Plus her husband wanted to pursue a political career, so in 2005 they moved to London. Now their life is, she insists, pretty similar to that of many working couples. “Where you have children, it’s more or less the same way for everybody. Sometimes you have particularly busy times where it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t have time to think. How do we handle this?’ and at other times, it’s easier. Nick has a particularly demanding job, and we all work around that. At the end of the day, you are not just yourself, you are you and your circumstances. Whatever happens, my family and I decide what is the right thing for us. That’s it.” Of course, the Clegg-González Durántez circumstances may change soon. Her husband will almost certainly have a less powerful job after the election. But when I mention this, the Lib Dem man furrows his brow and González Durántez shuts me down. Has she discussed what lies ahead? “I don’t have a 10-year plan,” she says.

“My plan has changed a lot of times; I don’t even do plans any more.” Though she is careful not to talk too much about her family, it’s when she does that I get a sense of the real Miriam González Durántez. Despite her carefulness, her capacity for work, it’s the subjects of liberty, choice and opportunity that get her going. She wants all women to be able to make their own decisions, in work, within a relationship, with a family or without. “You know, I love the freedom in this country,” she says. “The very first five minutes when I came to live here, I felt a freedom that I had never felt before in my life, a freedom to be myself. I come from a culture, in Spain, in Brussels, where, if you want to be a lawyer, you study law, if you want to be an economist, you study economy. Whatever you do early in your life determines what you do later on. When I came here, I went for lots of chats with people because I didn’t know what to do. And pretty much all of them said, ‘What do you want to do?’ And I was like, ‘Me? You want to know what I think?

I have a choice?’ Now I take it for granted, but it was a complete shock to my system. I still think it today: if I wanted to change my job, everyone would say, ‘Great, good for you.’” She sounds almost incredulous. The hard-working schoolgirl from a village where working females were pitied has been allowed to achieve, a person who can organise her working life and family life as she feels fit. No wonder she’s so keen to promote these choices to teenage girls. There’s a part of González Durántez that still can’t believe how relaxed the British are when it comes to self-determination. “The value that is given to the individual here is very wonderful,” she says. “I’m very lucky to have it and to share it. I think, you guys, you don’t appreciate how wonderful it is.” • You can register to volunteer an hour of your time to inspire young women at inspiringthefuture.org/inspiring-women BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | The Lib Dems' new 'first lady' The Lib Dems' new 'first lady' Mr Clegg said his Spanish improved after meeting his wife.

The Spanish wife of new Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is a high flying international lawyer. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez met Mr Clegg while they were both studying in Belgium. They wed in September 2000 and have two young sons. "I barely understood a word she said for the first weeks of our courtship but I thought she was magnificent," said the multi-lingual 40-year-old. He says they fell in love despite their lack of a common language. The couple's children speak Spanish and English. According to The Times, raven-haired Ms Gonzalez Durantez, 39, left the civil service a year ago to become head of the international trade practice for multinational law firm DLA Piper. Paternity leave She had been an expert on the Middle East peace process at the Foreign Office. She has also worked in Brussels for Chris Patten, then a European Commissioner and his successor Ferrero Waldner. She currently works full time and according to the Daily Telegraph, returned to work very soon after the birth of their first child. Mr Clegg has made it clear he believes fathers should get more time off when their children are born.

"When our first child was born, my wife, Miriam, went back to work much more quickly than I did," he said. 'Quite political' "It's completely out of step with modern parenting to give women nine months paid maternity leave and fathers two weeks. "I'd prefer a longer parental allocation which you can divide up as you like." So what sort of role will the relatively unknown new Lib Dem leader's wife, whose mother Mercedes, is a teacher of chemistry and physics at a secondary school in the family's home town of Olmedo in central Spain, take? According to people close to Mr Clegg she can be "quite political". The role models By keeping her own name, rather than taking her husband's, Ms Gonzalez Durantez seems to be following in the footsteps of Tony Blair's wife Cherie, who used the moniker Booth whenever she was working. However, the public have yet to hear Miriam say anything of note and it is unclear whether she will become a high profile politician's wife, like Mrs Blair, or a fierce defender of her husband, like Elspeth Campbell, spouse of ex-Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies.

She may choose to follow in the footsteps of David Cameron's wife Samantha by being there and being seen, when work allows, but saying very little. Or she could decide to emulate ex-PR guru Sarah Brown's example and give up work completely to devote her time to her husband, two small sons and her charity work. Nick Clegg - Bio, Facts, Family | Famous Birthdays Nick Clegg Capricorn Politician#7 About English politician who was installed as the Deputy Prime Minister of the U.K. in 2010. He began representing Sheffield Hallam in Parliament in 2005. Before Fame He graduated from the University of Minnesota and Cambridge, where he was active in the school's theater scene. Trivia He was named the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2010 and is a fluent speaker of five European languages. Family Life Has three sons, Antonio, Alberto and Miguel, with wife Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, whom he married in 2000.

Learn and talk about Miriam González Durántez, College of Europe alumni, Cookbook writers, Living people, Nick Clegg Early life[ edit ] Miriam González Durántez was born to two teachers in Olmedo , in the Spanish province of Valladolid . Her father, José Antonio González Caviedes , was also Mayor of Olmedo and served as a Senator for Valladolid for the conservative People's Party (PP) from 1989 until his death in 1996. [5] She studied law at the University of Valladolid and then won a postgraduate scholarship to the College of Europe in Bruges , Belgium . She met Nick Clegg in Bruges , and continued to work there. [6] Career[ edit ] Having previously worked as an advisor on trade law , economic relations and the Middle East to both the European Union and the British Government , González Durántez is a partner at Dechert , where she is co-chair of the firm’s International Trade and Government Regulation practice. [7] Prior to that, she worked at DLA Piper for six years.

In February 2011, controversy arose surrounding DLA Piper's lobbying efforts on behalf of the Libyan government . [8] González Durántez is considered an expert on European Union law and co-authored the book Regulatory Aspects of the WTO Telecoms Agreements. [9] Since October 2013 González Durántez has been the honorary president of Canning House in London, the home of the Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Council. [10] González Durántez was also on the Board of Directors of Acciona , S.A. between June 2010 and July 2014. González published her first cookbook, Made In Spain: Recipes and stories from my country and beyond in 2016. [11] Personal life[ edit ] González Durántez dated the British politician Nick Clegg for several years in Brussels before their marriage in 2000. The couple have three sons. She insisted on Spanish names if they were to have the family name "Clegg". She is a practising Roman Catholic , and together with her husband they agreed that their children will be raised as such, though her husband is agnostic.

[12] [13] [14] She has not taken British citizenship and so, as an EU citizen who is not a Commonwealth or Irish citizen, she can vote in local and European elections but not in UK Parliamentary elections. [15] González Durántez attends the Je suis Charlie rally in Trafalgar Square , January 2015 González Durántez spoke of her relationship with the United Kingdom in a 2014 interview stating that after living in the country she "...felt a freedom that I had never felt before in my life, a freedom to be myself. I come from a culture, in Spain, in Brussels, where, if you want to be a lawyer, you study law, if you want to be an economist, you study economy. Whatever you do early in your life determines what you do later on. When I came here, I went for lots of chats with people because I didn't know what to do. And pretty much all of them said, 'What do you want to do?' And I was like, 'Me? You want to know what I think? I have a choice?' Now I take it for granted, but it was a complete shock to my system.

I still think it today: if I wanted to change my job, everyone would say, 'Great, good for you.'" [16] 2010 UK General Election campaign[ edit ] When Sarah Brown and Samantha Cameron became increasingly involved in the media and 2010 United Kingdom general election campaigns, the spotlight turned to González Durántez. She publicly said that she would be "willing to help" with the campaign but, unlike Cameron, she would be unable to take time off from work and her family life to take part. [17] Asked by a Spanish newspaper whether she would quit her job, González Durántez said that "If Nick were Prime Minister and I had to give up my job to support the country, I would have no problem in doing so." [18] Original courtesy of Wikipedia: ález_Durántez — Please support Wikipedia. This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia . A portion of the proceeds from advertising on Digplanet goes to supporting Wikipedia. We're sorry, but there's no news about "Miriam González Durántez" right now.

Limit to books that you can completely read online Include partial books (book previews) Oops, we seem to be having trouble contacting Twitter Support Wikipedia A portion of the proceeds from advertising on Digplanet goes to supporting Wikipedia. Please add your support for Wikipedia! Searchlight Group Digplanet also receives support from Searchlight Group. Visit Searchlight Copyright © 2009-2016 Digparty. All rights reserved. Miriam Clegg makes Theresa May squirm in Radio 4 interview | Daily Mail Online comments When politicians squirm on the Today programme, it is usually because they are being hounded over a thorny policy issue. But yesterday, interviewer Miriam Gonzalez Durantez made Theresa May uncomfortable for a different reason – with a barrage of questions about her shoes and her husband. The lawyer wife of former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, who goes by her maiden name professionally, was a guest editor on the BBC Radio 4 show.

Miriam Gonzalez Durantez was attacked for giggling through the interview, in which Mrs May declined to answer whether she would lead the out campaign in the EU referendum - but was able to confirm she did not underline key points in her briefing memos from civil servants However, instead of quizzing the Home Secretary about the running of the country, she focused her attention on personal issues. At one point, the 47-year-old told Mrs May coquettishly: ‘You obviously like shoes. So do I. I actually think I think better in high heels’. Later Miss Gonzalez Durantez, who heads a feminist campaign group, asked Mrs May if she over-prepares for meetings in order to compensate for feminine insecurities. ‘I have worked for female politicians ... and something that always catches my attention is that they underline their briefing papers,’ she said. ‘Do you underline your briefing notes? Do you over-prepare? Is there something there about a certain lack of self-confidence?’ The Spaniard then went on to probe the Home Secretary over the support she receives from her husband, investment banker Philip May.

‘When you go out there and you go to conference and you give your speech, do you have your husband there being a bit upset that he’s not up there just giving you a kiss at the end of the speech?’ Miss Gonzalez Durantez asked. ‘Does [your husband] say, “Theresa, come on, you can be the next leader of the Tory party?”’ she added. Business minister Anna Soubry, left, blasted Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, the wife of Nick Clegg, for giggling through a radio interview with Home Secretary Theresa May about the role of women in politics Mrs May was also quizzed on whether she would lead the referendum campaign to get Britain out of the European Union. Ms González Durántez is the founder of a campaign to encourage girls to make positive career choices and the interview with Mrs May was based on this campaign. But Ms Soubry slammed the exchange on Twitter. She said: 'MGD's interview with Theresa May was embarrassing. Giggling questions she wouldn't ask a male politician!' Ms Soubry continued by questioning whether it was 'time to end' the Today programme's practice of inviting public figures to 'guest edit' the programme between Christmas and New Year.

The spat was the second time this week a guest editor provoked outrage. Actor Michael Sheen used his day on the programme yesterday to criticise claims Britain's foreign aid money should be directed to shoring up stricken flood defences in the north of England. Ms Soubry said the idea of guest editors - which this year has also involved Olympic champion Sir Bradley Wiggins - was 'tokenistic twaddle'. The programme has used the idea for more than a decade, first introducing it in 2003. And some listeners appeared to agree. Clare Butler, an academic at Newcastle University Business School, said: ‘Yes let’s ask Theresa May about clothes, underlining briefing notes and how her husband feels about her work. Good grief!’ Also invited on to the show to be subjected to Miss Gonzalez Durantez’s rather strange interviewing technique were entrepreneur Richard Branson and musician James Blunt. In one toe-curling segment she gushingly heaped praise on Branson, 65, as one of ‘the most successful persons [sic] in the world’, who ‘was probably “brand UK” on his own’ at the same time as making ‘sacrifices and compromises and changing nappies’.

During the interview, Mrs May was asked if the 'little girl' inside her is dreaming about becoming the next Prime Minister. She said: 'She is dreaming of carrying on doing a good job in the Home Office in the role that I am at the moment. 'There is still a lot to do.' Ms Gonzalez Durantez, who is a Spanish lawyer, also asked Mrs May about the controversial speech on immigration she delivered at this year's Conservative Party conference and whether she feels pressure as a woman to try and come across as 'tough'. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share The Home Secretary said: 'I don't feel that there is a pressure on to come across as tough and I didn't look at that party conference speech as in that context at all. 'What I said was what I thought was important to say.' Meanwhile, Mrs May, known for her love of shoes, was asked how she felt about the possibility of women being put off pursuing a career in politics because of scrutiny over what they wear. 'I think often what puts some women off is the intrusion into the private life that can come with being in politics but I think there is a wider issue which is about young girls today,' she said.

'All too often the sort of images that they are given are images that are about looks rather than about what people have achieved and what people are doing.' Mrs May said she did not underline points in her briefing notes but did 'spot the typos and the grammatical errors though'. The interview prompted Ms Soubry to send a series of tweets about the interview, protesting the 'giggling questions' were embarrassing and would not have been directed at a male politician Ms Soubry suggested it was time for the BBC to cancel the annual practice of bringing 'guest editors' in to run the Today programme between Christmas and new year The guest editors get to plan several key components of the three hour programme, planning features and focussing on themes that run in between conventional segments and any breaking news The Home Secretary said being a politician was less a job than a way of life. Asked about her husband's role, she said: 'I'm very fortunate. My husband is hugely supportive and he is very happy getting on with his career.' She added: 'He's not someone who is constantly pushing me.

He did, I would confess, push me in a very important way which was when I was looking for selection for a seat in the Conservative Party and the vacancy at the Maidenhead seat came through. 'He said 'are you going to apply for that' and I said 'no, there were one or two people who were more likely to get the seat, I'm not sure it's worth it. 'He said 'for goodness sake, go on - everything is worth a try'. So I did and I got it.' In the tougher section of the interview, Ms Gonzalez Durantez asked: 'Are we going to see for the very first time a woman leading the 'No' campaign in a Brexit referendum in this country?' Mrs May replied: 'My focus is on actually the negotiations that are taking place at the moment.' A laughing Mrs Gonzalez Durantez then told the Home Secretary that she had not answered the question. 'I'm a politician, Miriam,' Mrs May said. Former Liberal Democrat leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg married Ms Gonzalez Durantez in 2000 and the couple have three sons

Question: Miriam Gonzalez Durantez married which UK politician in 2000?
Answer: Nick Clegg